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Brief Communications
Nature 426, 516 (4 December 2003) | doi:10.1038/426516a
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Post-doctoral Research in Super-Resolution imaging of Mitotic Processes.
- Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute
- Toronto, ON Canada
Senior Scientist, Bioinformatics and Protein Design
- Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research, University of Copenhagen
- Copenhagen 2200 Denmark
Palaeontology: A polydactylous amniote from the Triassic period
Xiao-Chun Wu1, Zhan Li2, Bao-Chun Zhou2 & Zhi-Ming Dong3
Abstract
The earliest four-limbed vertebrates, or tetrapods, lived between 370 million and 354 million years ago, during the Late Devonian period, and typically had more than five digits (polydactyly)1. We have discovered that a preaxial form of polydactyly, in which extra digits are positioned anterior to the first digit, has unexpectedly re-emerged in a marine reptile from the Early Triassic period about 242 million years ago — the overall morphology of both the manus and pes closely resemble those of the earliest tetrapods. Until now, no post-Devonian tetrapod has been found with a comparative type of polydactyly, so the new amniote provides a striking example of convergent evolution.
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